What do YOU charge?

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OK, I have been going to do this for a while.  I need some help and would like some info.I charge $60.00 per hour for welding in my shop OR portable.  I do not charge milage, but DO charge travel time.    O2 and Acet are included as long as Its not a cutting job that takes all day.  One free grinding wheel per job.  If I use 5 or 10, I charge 1.5 times my cost per wheel.  Steel is marked up 1.5 cost. I get it delivered to my shop or the job and include that in the price.  I do not charge for rod, wire or CO2.  Mostly I use bare wire with Co2.What do you guys do?Do you charge for milage?  How much?Welding is 25% of my income, and I am trying to make it 75%.I know different areas have different rates, but please comment.Thanks to allDavidLast edited by David R; 03-10-2007 at 08:11 PM.Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Portable work = $75 for up to the first hr. / $50 for every hour after.If there seems to be a excesive amount of consumables that gets added to the bill. I also charge from the time I leave the house, until I get back home.Usually anything at least 5hrs. I'll drop the extra for the fist hour, and I've been known to drop around 40 to 45 per hr. on a job that last all week.The grand total is usually reflected by the mood I'm in  And the additude of the customer is greatly reflected in the price  Life's to short to do buissiness with some people
Reply:I can not answer this..To me..It all depends on what your doing..and how bad they are begging.. I go from there..If I had something to do that could be done while I'm already there..x amount...Getting up on Sunday and making someone happy to do the same thing?They will pay  ...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:My shop rate is $60 hr. Although I do not do alot of ONLY welding jobs. Most of my welding is in fabrication of parts.You have a good method though with the consumables. If you have to grind on something all day or cut all day. Its certainly not unreasonable to add in consumables at that point.I generally don't charge for steel unless it is something large that requires something off a full stock piece. Usually its just a plate or bar out of the shorty scrap pile.The one thing I do that I charge more for is sandblasting. That is $80 if its not in a cabinet. Nothing worst than blasting an entire truck frame outside when its 90 deg.!!Patriot Performance AutoLincoln Power Mig 255CLincoln AC-225 StickVictor Journeyman O/AQuincy QT-5 Compressor
Reply:Originally Posted by 72sportyLife's to short to do buissiness with some people
Reply:Full price is $75 for mobile welding and custom electrical work.  That said, less than half of my customers pay full price.But some do...
Reply:I have only been welding for a short time. My charge is from home and back, if I have to do portable. In shop same as all charge $20.00 I do not provide steel. Consumables billed at amount used.
Reply:To just fix some broken weld on a truck or something? Like $20 minimum charge, just for striking an arc. Most of my welding is within fabricating, so the price when I do it depends wildly on the job. But for a boat tower, on the water, 25ft. up over the deck?? I will charge a minimum of $200. Most of those kind of jobs wind up being in the 65-90 an hr range. If I am doing fab work?? I charge daily rate, and break down the day by the quarter. $250-350 a day for regulars and friends, 450 for others. Like Zap said, attitude and the type of project have a LOT to do with the charges involved.
Reply:Speaking of Money...Is it true that Zap still has the first DIME he ever earned - and he shows it in most all his TIG weld pictures?  Rick V
Reply:I am in the 60/hr (2hr min) for mobile work group...but then that is for normal stuff. Get me putting down dual shield or some other high volume stuff and it will go up quite a bit. Shop time is only 30/hr for now. I really don't do much shop work anyway except my own stuff. That which does come in is a five minute deal...maybe fifteen minutes on a busy day. As soon as the new shop is built, I was considering 45-50 bucks, depending on the job.
Reply:My shop rate stands at 50.00 hourly 60.00 for stainless and aluminum. 75.00 for onsite welding. I've been contemplating raising them all since I've been adding alot of new equiptment to get the big jobs done faster. I havent done one bit of advertising - its been all word of mouth. You guys all have to remember the "triangle of customer service"  I guess the saying goes you only need to complete two sides of the triangle to make a customer happy. The three sides are 1. best price 2. best quality. 3. speedy service.   The customer must decide which of the two sides he wants and must sacrifice the third. ie  " I can fix it the right way right now but it's gonna cost ya".  Plus, there just aren't enough quality welders out there. I've had about 8 guys last year I had to let go - mostly because they couldnt do what they said they can do . Now I'm back working alone. It sucks!  I hear voices. heheAnyhow , anyone need a job ?
Reply:Again as stated above, I charge different for each type of jobs. Normally 35.00 to 45.00 per hour for shop time not including any materials. Custom fab work runs 45.00 - 65.00 per hour again depending on the job. And as Zap posted above. when working weekends or after hours when time is an issue, premium hourly rate.Miller DVI2Lincoln Precision Tig 225Thermodynamics Cutmaster 38Everything else needed.
Reply:Originally Posted by JohnnyWeld I had to let go - mostly because they couldnt do what they said they can do . Now I'm back working alone. It sucks!  I hear voices. heheAnyhow , anyone need a job ?
Reply:my shop rate varies by job and customer. people drop stuff off all week and my wife has sorta learned what i will charge. she hands them a tag to put on it and their name and number. she used to call me and ask how much for this and how much for that, but now she has an idea. but every once and awhile i'll be like, you charged what, when the customer comes i'll haggle them up or just be like, the job didn't take too long, here's the new cheaper rate.but usually it's $40/hr for shop and $75 for road work. i have had a few jobs where people were a-holes about some things and their price got increased with every breath."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Our rate is 75.00 per hr. whether we're working or watching the paint dry.... on site or in the shop. We charge for pretty much everything on the machine shop side as far as tooling tooling goes. If we need to buy a tool to do the job the customer will pay for it, mostly because machine shop tooling can be expensive. As far s the welding we charge for stock any stock and consumables, if a lot is used. The only thing I weigh before a job is the stainless wire. If I am doing a road job I punch prior to loading the truck and knock out after it is unloaded at the end of the day. When I owned my shop several years ago, it was 45.00 per hr for shop and 65.00 per hr for site work and 75.00 per hr for line boring....... plus materials, plus consumables (a guesstimate). I also had a 4 hr minimum for site and line boring work. Here is a big one that I don't think a lot of owners realize or really pay attention to enough......... When I looked at a job if I felt it was say a 10 -12 hr job... I would tell the customer that I could stay late and not have to come back the next day but the rate was time and a half after 8 hrs.Overtime was based on an 8 hr day and anything over 8 in a day was time and a half.... as well as evening work..... You can not pay an employee time and a half if somewhere along the way a job didn't pay time and a half..... Let's say you do 5 road jobs (1 per day) that were 10 hrs each. Come Friday if you had the same welder one every site you would be shelling out 10 hrs of OT. This can catch up to an owner very fast.What my shop does now and I did then are the same. A job is allowed 40 hrs in a given week to be completed, or 8 hrs in a given day if that process needs to be moved along._________________Chris
Reply:Heres how I do it.  This is for Mobile welding.85 dollars an hour plus one hour trip charge, so if I am at the job for one hour it is $170.00.  95 dollars an hour for any tig work.  I do have a minimum charge for the little 10 minute jobs $120.00.  I do put a lot of bids in and I try not to cut my self short. This is 100% of my income, I stay booked 2 weeks at a time so works really well for me.
Reply:I do the same as Johnny, which works well. I charge 60 an hour, consumables included and 75 for ss/alum. Fab work runs in a wide range from 60-100+...depending on size, material and hours involved. Don't EVER under estimate yourself. If they don't like the price, you can adjust it saying, "well, you're a first time customer, so I can take 10% off". This will usually calm their nerves. John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:I do mobile welding at $75 per hour with a 2 hour minimum. I don't charge for consumables. I don't mark up the price of steel. I charge straight for it. I find it is easier just charge more for an all inclusive total as then I don't have customers nitpicking my bill. Hope that helps.Lincoln Power Mig 210MP MIGLincoln Power Mig 350MP - MIG and Push-PullLincoln TIG 300-300Lincoln Hobby-Weld 110v  Thanks JLAMESCK TIG TORCH, gas diffuser, pyrex cupThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 101My brain
Reply:Anymore, having honed my skils and purchased enough equipment to do good work, I'll weld in my shop for half of what the local shops charge...works out to be about $40 an hour. Steel I go pick up is 2.0 times retail, and I have yet to add on consumables. When I first started my "hobby" shop back before it was discovered, I felt bad about charging $20 an hour. Not anymore, especially after seeing what real shops get and what kind of work I'm capable of turning out. I'm fast, reliable and finish all the welds. I have good equipment and stand behind my work. If you're unsure of how to bill yourself out, do this: next time a customer brings you a project, take that project to the local shops and price it out yourself as if you are the customer. You'll come around pretty quickly. Ronnie LyonsMeridian, Idaho
Reply:This is great.  Everybody has their own thing.  I think I am in the ballpark.  Location makes a difference.  When I grew up on a farm, there were guys that would weld things for a couple of six packs.  I see some companies getting the really big bucks.  I was asking because I charge travel time, but not milage. I have found anything I buy for a customer and have to wait for, I have to mark up or I am just "loaning them money" so I can get the job.  I get my steel delivered and charge a mark up on it.  $400.00 of steel should be sold for $600.00 if I have to wait 20 to 30 days to get paid.  Besides, I make an extra $200.  Gas is $2.75 a gallon and my truck gets 12 mpg towing the welder.  I can live with that since I am just sitting listening to the radio or talking on the phone.  I own a garage and get $54.00 per hour to fix trucks and cars.  More equipment is involved and information is hard to find or expen$ive.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Originally Posted by Rick VSpeaking of Money...Is it true that Zap still has the first DIME he ever earned - and he shows it in most all his TIG weld pictures?  Rick V
Reply:given away more than I've earned.... Yeah me too.I will listen upon whats requested;however, if someone wants a "ballpark" figure mine is a competitive 45$ an hour.  I never tell how much untill I have a full understanding on whats requested.  I DO CHARGE A 10% on materials charge because he** driving and spending time aquiring parts and materials add up.  So seriously consider the added 10% on materials. The customer likes the sound of lower hr rate with the understanding of getting materials. weld it like you own it
Reply:Hey David ,  thanks for starting this poll . I think it was some interesting reading. I do think it's important for the guys out there doing this for a living not to sell themselves short . Even if your working for someone else. A great welder can command top dollar for their work - the flip side is , you had better never fork up!